Soft tissue sheets such as facial tissue sheets are commonly offered as a stack of tissue sheets packed in a dispensing box. The dispensing box has an opening through which the user pulls the tissue sheets. In order to facilitate the removal of the tissue sheets from the dispensing box, the tissue sheets are interfolded, which means that the tissue sheets are folded into one-another, so that they form a chain of tissue sheets being interconnected by folded portions. In this manner, when removing the top tissue sheet from the stack of tissue sheets and pulling the tissue sheet completely through the dispensing opening in the dispensing box, the pulled-out tissue sheet will automatically bring a portion of the next tissue sheet in the stack out through the opening thereby making it readily available for gripping and removing from the dispensing box. The praxis of interfolding tissue sheets in this manner is a convenient way of ascertaining that all of the tissue sheets can be easily removed from the container. There are many types of interfolding, e.g. Z-folding, but neither the type of interfolding, nor the type of tissue is important to the invention.
A dispenser of this type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,357 (YOH), which discloses a box with a dispensing opening having a curvilinear or “S”-shape. The opening facilitates the dispensing of interfolded tissues from a box by fixing the top sheet in a position extending out through the opening, where it is readily accessible to a user.
The European patent application EP 00203753.9 discloses a box for dispensing a flat tissue sheet from the stack of tissue sheets. To dispense a flat tissue sheet it is necessary to have a wider opening in the box. Although a wider opening in the box solves the problem with tissues being wrinkled as they are pulled out of the box, it creates a further problem with tissues falling back into the box where they are inaccessible for the user. This problem is solved by providing the opening with opposing projections which supports the flat tissue sheet in a presentation position.
However, in the case of soft facial tissues, handkerchiefs and tissues made from a relatively thin material, the arrangement of opposing projections is not sufficient to keep a tissue in an upward presentation position. A standard box for dispensing tissues of this type is usually provided with an opening having an extension in the direction of the main axis of the box. After opening the dispensing box, which basically means exposing the opening in the box, the user must try and get a grip on the first tissue sheet in order to remove it. After a tissue has been removed, the uppermost tissue is usually wrinkled is a random fashion when it is presented to the user through the opening in the box. The reason for this is that the width of the tissue is broader than the opening in the box, in order to fix the tissue in a position ready to use. At the same time the random presentation position often makes it difficult to get a good grip on the tissue or to grip the edge of the tissue being presented.
Hence, there exists a great need of improving the dispensing of soft tissue sheets from a stack of tissue sheets, which are packed in a dispensing box.